Stratford Town slipped to their fourth consecutive defeat since clinching the Midland Alliance title as Gornal Athletic completed a quickfire double with a 2-0 success at the DCS.

That anti-climatic finale meant that Stratford finished the season just one point clear of runners-up Westfields, but manager Carl Adams insisted that they should be judged over their 42-game campaign.

“While it has been a disappointing finish the bottom line is that over the season as a whole we’ve done enough to win the league,” he said.

“The players have been magnificent and done the club proud, so we shouldn’t dwell on the last few results and instead concentrate on the fact that we won the title with four games to spare and that we are the champions.”

Third-placed Gornal, who reached the quarter-finals of the FA Vase this season, applauded Town on to the pitch but showed no signs of deference once the game kicked off.

They should have taken the lead when Mike Perks hit the post with a point-blank header and they made no mistake in the 30th minute as Chris Rabone sprinted through and, although Chris Jay blocked his shot, Rion Francis-Mills snapped up the rebound.

The game was halted for several minutes after a clash of heads between Lei Brown and Gurdeep Wilkhoo – the Gornal man led off with concussion but the heavily-bandaged Brown carrying on and forcing James Pemberton to reflex save just before the interval.

Brown – back from suspension – was denied by another good stop in the second period, but Gornal continued to look the livelier outfit and wrapped it up in the 72nd minute when substitute Matt Weyman pinched the ball from Richard Robinson and was sent tumbling by the exposed Jay – Lee Wherton ramming the inevitable penalty into the bottom corner.